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Check these people out

You can find plenty of news stories about the ongoing and upcoming elections for local government – mainly city and school district elections. Call it a good thing that information still is out there, but voters need more.

In most places, the interest level, and discussion of serious candidate differences, seems low, and that may relate to too little detailed information.

We need more, because the consequences can be serious.

Consider the Wednesday editorial in the Coeur d’Alene Press, describing its contest for the Most Inept Board – elected public governing board, that is – in the region.

“Heading into the homestretch,” it said, “the trustee majorities at North Idaho College and the Community Library Network, both featuring Kootenai County Republican Central Committee-anointed ‘leaders’, are neck and neck for the Most Inept Board Award.” Whoever wins the MID, the editorial concluded, “The public will be declared the clear loser.”

They might have added for consideration the West Bonner School District board, which has two incumbent members trying to do their jobs but being blocked by a third member who has been skipping meetings and thereby denying the board a quorum. (This is the same board where two members, who were allied with the no-show guy, recently were recalled for their actions on the board.)

It can happen anywhere, and has happened in many places, and often does when many citizens get tired or discouraged tracking what’s happening, and figuring out which candidates will carry out their jobs responsibly and which won’t.

It requires some work.

One assist, which not nearly enough voters tend to use on their own, is checking campaign finance reports. Yes, you can easily find out who’s underwriting campaigns, and that can tell you a lot about what priorities really are at stake.

The Idaho Ed News reported this week, “Even in some of the state’s biggest school districts, Nov. 7’s trustee elections remain a mixed bag — a mishmash of spendy races and sleepy races, often within the same district. Three of Idaho’s largest and fastest growing school districts — West Ada, Kuna and Caldwell — illustrate the effect money is having, and isn’t having, on races for volunteer trustee seats.”

A good example is the pair of races in the West Ada School District – Idaho’s largest – in districts 4 and 5. The incumbents in those districts, David Binetti and Rene Ozuna, are both running, but they’re being significantly outspent by two allied challengers, Miguel De Luna and Tom Moore (respectively). Moore can afford to self-fund his campaign to a reported $50,000, and is helping fund De Luna’s campaign as well.

Ozuna remarked the spending is “super concerning to me. I’m not sure why anybody would put that kind of money into that.”

As to the why, look to the joint Moore-De Luna web page under the label “conservatives for West Ada,” which lists goals mostly anodyne but with a few callouts to the base: “Supporting Idaho’s Conservative Family Values, Advocating for Parental Rights to Participate in the Education Process.”

On the Ada County Republican Party web site (yes, they’re involved in this election too) Moore also included the intriguing comment, “The district must look at school security measures from physical attacks but also from the re-education and with help from you we can do this to protect all kids.” He didn’t explain what “the re-education” is.

In all, the tone sounds like an echo of the boards from the Idaho Panhandle, and if the money invested is as large as it is here, you tend to expect the results are intended to be outsized too.

A few admittedly vague comments and some larger-than-usual spending aren’t, of course, dispositive in the cases of Moore or De Luna or for that matter other candidates. But they are ample cause for a closer look.

Of course, cities are critical in this season’s elections as well, and Boise, Meridian and Nampa are among the cities with lively campaigns underway.

Take a little time to do your homework before marking those ballots. It could save some serious grief later.

 

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